The Second Prophecy (Part 1 of the Dragdani Prophecies)

by R. Alan Ferguson

  “They’re tear-flies,” said Saren.

  Helen nodded. “That’s right.”

  “Are you sure you’re all right, Helen?” asked Henkot, concerned.

  “I’m fine,” replied the woman. “Now can we go?”

  “Yes, Helen’s right. It’s time to go,” said Delsani.

  Saren and Henkot had already agreed Saren would go with Helen, but to their surprise, Helen sat in the same tear-fly as Delsani. And when everyone was ready, the openings that they had went though closed up in front of them, and the wings of the tear-flies unfolded and started to flap rapidly. They took off from the ground and were on their way to the Wizard City.

  Helen cast her mind back to when she first went in a tear-fly. It was also the first time that she had been to the city, and she did not like the idea of going for a flying lesson in a giant tear. John assured her that it was the safest way to travel and that when it took off, her fear would pass and she would feel and be safe. She remembered that John was right for, as soon as the opening closed, she felt the safest she had ever felt in her life, just as she did in the tear-fly she was in at that moment.

  Helen knew that Delsani blamed himself for what had happened at Kealhal and especially for what happened to John, for he was one that told and assured John that they could not fail, and John trusted him with his life.

  “I don’t blame you,” said Helen lightly. “I blame him.”

  “Him?” repeated Delsani.

  “Ulicoth,” said Helen. “He was the one that set us all up. He’s the one that killed John,” she sobbed.

  “I’m so sorry, Helen. The truth is that we were too willing to jump in and bring John back. We didn’t check everything as we should have. We were so arrogant we didn’t even see the simple things that would have shown us the truth. Therefore, I blame myself, because I, at least, should have kept a clear head,” said Delsani truthfully.

  “He has to pay for what he did,” Helen continued as though Delsani had said nothing.

  “There is only one person who can bring him to justice,” said Delsani.

  Helen put her hand gently on her tummy and nodded. “I know, but I don’t want him to get hurt. He’s all I have left of John,” the woman said. “Is that selfish?”

  “Don’t be silly. It‘s good that you care for him so much to think of his well-being even before his birth. It’s only natural,” said Delsani.

  They had now reached the city’s tall grey wooden Gates. To Helen, the gates looked different than before, for when she was last there. The gates were bright and welcoming, but now they looked cold and consumed with death itself.

  The service was long, and Helen did not stay any longer then she had to, and that was fine with Jaucal and Delsani. For they thought it best that Helen should not stay out in the open, for they feared that there could be another attempt on her life.

  Bacnil feared this also, and it was he that told Helen that no one would be offended if she left. Saren and Henkot had decided to stay behind and said that they would see their Queen as soon as they got back. And at that, Helen and Delsani went back to the Towers of Telian.

  After the service most of the Men, and Elves went back to their own cities. And for the remaining few, a party was held, for as the grieving service ended, it was customary to throw a grieving party to celebrate the lives of their fallen friends and kin. However, most of the men wanted to grieve in their own way, and off they went, though King Bacnil and a few of his friends stayed, including his cousin Hadnim, against all advice, for he was still badly wounded at that time. The only reason he stayed was so that he could properly thank the Wizard who saved him from Kilamen’s attack.

  Back at the towers, Helen and Delsani were in the main hall. Some of John’s belongings were now there. Helen was staring straight at the display case deep in memories of their time in that place together. “I want him to grow up here,” she said.

  Delsani was not surprised by those words. “I’ve already talked the Grand Wizard and he agrees with me that it would be best for the both of you to return to the Normal World and raise him there. It’s completely your choice.”

  “I don’t know,” said Helen.

  “He’s your son, so it is really up to you though, I would urge you to consider what I have just said. And remember that Ulicoth knows that your son exists. He won’t stop until he kills you and the child.”

  Helen stood mesmerized, staring at the display case again.

  Then she looked up and said, “If he grows up in the Normal World, will you train him there?”

  “No, I think it would be best not to tell him about this world or who he really is.”

  Helen looked confused by the Wizard’s words. “Why? I mean, if he won’t know who he really is. Then how will we prepare him to fight?”

  “When he turns sixteen, I’ll explain everything to him as I did to you and John, and the four year gap should be enough for him to learn enough magic at the college. But you mustn’t tell him the truth no matter what happens, you understand?”

  “Not really, but I won’t tell him. When should I go?”

  “Don’t worry. We’re not going to throw you out. You are still our Queen. You can leave as soon as you feel ready. But I would feel better knowing that you were safely hidden away.”

  Helen merely nodded.

  “I know his name -”

  “No,” Helen interrupted, “I don’t want to know. I want to feel like there’s at least one thing that I can do.”

  “That’s fine,” said Delsani.

  Then Helen remembered the letter John gave her before he left. “Delsani, John gave me a letter to open only if he didn’t survive. I’ve only just remembered. I put it in the chest at the end of the bed in my room.”

  Helen stared at the Wizard with an uncertain look on her face. She opened her mouth to say something but before the words could pass her lips Delsani said, “‘I know that it’s hard to think that the last thing that you will see of John will be only words on a page. But he wouldn’t have given it to you if he thought that you couldn’t be strong enough to read it.”

  “I’ve already read the letter, it was just after you p –” Helen broke off, looking tearful and feeling stupid. “I’m sorry I’m not usually like this,” she said sorrowful.

  “You’ve nothing to be sorry for, Helen. You’ve lost your husband. And you must face the fact that you will have to raise your child without him,” said Delsani.

  Helen said nothing at first. Then, “The letter just told me that he loved me and that he would always be with me. There were other things too, things that the Grand Wizad should see. It’s just information on where curtain things are. Nothing really important”

  “I see. I’ll let Jaucal know. Would you like to go to the main dining room to have something to eat?” asked Delsani, changing the subject. He felt that what John had written was probably for her alone, and if there was anything that she needed to tell him, she would do it in her own time.

  “No, I don’t think I could sit in there. I hate it when people stare at me. It makes me feel like a freak. But I could go for something to eat in my room.”

  “Of course,” said Delsani, glad that she was willing to eat, though little did he know she had done nothing but eat since Saren first visited her. Though he would soon find that out when they got to the room. Helen sat down on the one of the armchairs next to the window and sank down as far as it would allow.

  Delsani took the notebook that was sitting on the bedside table and sat on the bed, and when he moved his feet under the bed, he heard the clatter of the plates, cups, goblets, glasses and bowls that Helen had horded under the bed. Delsani slid off of the bed on to his knees, looked under as if to confirm with his eyes what he had heard with his ears. He laughed after seeing the mess she had left, which was the last thing that Helen had expected. He looked at her with a smile on his thin lips and said. “If I had known that you were looking for something to collect as a hobby, I would have sug
gested something that didn’t smell as bad.”

  “I’m sorry. It’s just that I couldn’t bring myself to leave the room until today, and I didn’t want to bother you with something as stupid as dirty plates. I mean, with everything that you’ve had to think about and do. I didn’t think –” She stopped, not knowing what else to say.

  Delsani’s smile widened, and he took out his wand, pointed it at the bed and said, “Clennos,” A light came from under the bed, and the smell disappeared. Then the Wizard waved the wand, and there was another light, and then there seemed to be movement coming from under the bed. To Helen it sounded like the dishes moving around and, true enough, one of the plates pushed its way out from behind the overhanging bed clothes. And to Helen’s surprise, it had legs and was now so clean that it sparkled as it walked to the door. Then the other dishes began to find their way out from under the bed. They, too, were sparkling clean and were walking to the door.

  “Are you all right Helen? You look as though you have never seen a plate with feet before,” said Delsani sarcastically.

  “Oh, very funny,” laughed Helen.

  Delsani laughed. “It’s good to see a smile back on your face.”

  “It’s good to feel a smile back on my face,” said Helen wearily.

  Delsani sat back on the bed with the note pad still in his hand. He held his wand over the small page of parchment on the pad and the wand turned into a white quill as Helen sank back down onto the armchair. “What would you like to eat?” he asked.

  After Helen looked up from her third plate of Norkgilop steak, she was still feeling hungry. “Are you going to eat that?” she asked Delsani, who had not even touched the steak that was on the plate he had resting on his lap.

  “No,” said Delsani, as he handed the plate over. “I prefer not to eat those poor creatures.”

  “Then why order it?”

  “I ordered it in case you still felt hungry, and I was just waiting to see if I had to send it back.”

  But Helen had hardly heard his reply; for she was too busy enjoying the steak, which she was already halfway through. “I don’t know what’s wrong with me. I can’t stop eating.”

  “Helen, I think that I would be more concerned if you weren’t eating,” said the Wizard looking, surprised at the speed she had engulfed her food. For in no time at all the Queen had finished the steak. She put her plate on top of the others on the floor and gulped down the last of her Gusjat juice. She looked over the rim of her mug while nervously rubbing its handle with her thumb and said in a humble voice, “I don’t think that I can go back to my normal life just yet. I mean all the questions and rumors that will surface about John’s death. I don’t think I’m ready to face that yet. Maybe in another little while, I might be ready, if that’s all right?”

  This did not surprise Delsani. He had thought Helen might have wanted to stay a little longer. “As I said before, it is up to you to decide when you want to go. But is that the real reason? If so, you don’t need to worry, for I can make it so that they will believe whatever story you wish to tell them, with the permission of the Grand Wizard and Council of course.”

  “You’re right, that’s not the real reason,” said Helen. “The truth is that I don’t want to believe John is ...”

  “Dead,” Delsani said.

  Helen nodded. “I know it must seem silly that I can’t even say it. But I can’t help thinking that maybe you were wrong, no offence intended.” Helen stared at the Wizard for a second to see his reaction. And when he did not seem to be offended she continued. “I mean I can’t help feeling that John could still be alive.”

  “I know how you feel; I felt the same way when my wife died. And I know that you probably don’t want to talk about it, but you’ll feel better for it in the end. Only with me it was the Council that I didn’t want to leave, for I thought that staying would make easier to live with, but Helen, I was wrong. What I needed was to except the truth and get on with my life. I know this will sound, cold but you need to do the same,” said Delsani.

  Helen noticed there were tears welling in the Wizard’s eyes.

  “I’m sorry to hear about your wife,” said Helen, “and I’m sure that it’s hard. I mean, I know how close you were to John. Like father and son. I think you said.”

  “Yes, he was like a son, but the truth is that my real son came back just before I left to find John. And he died not long after I was told of his arrival. That is why I requested to go to John. I needed to see him again. And it seems that John’s death has brought back old memories. They were a lot alike.”

  Helen had so many questions to ask the Wizard, for he and John had never mentioned that Delsani had a wife and son. But she thought perhaps the subject was too delicate, so instead she said, “What was his name, if you don’t mind me asking?”

  “His name was Rukril,” said Delsani. “You are probably wondering why I have never talked about my family.”

  “Yes,” said Helen, “and I wouldn’t mind knowing, but it’s really none of my business. Then again, I’ve always been nosy.”

  Delsani laughed. “Where should I start? Hilana was a very pretty girl that I had a crush on in college when we were young, and to cut a long story short, I asked her out and she said no. In our older years at college, we both put in applications for work experience here in the Towers of Telian, and we both got a position. We were randomly placed together as partners, and of course for her it was a nightmare to be placed with someone who was not as equally popular. However, for me it was like utter heaven, and to our surprise we worked well together and soon became close friends. That, I thought, was really best thing, but I was wrong. For soon after I realized that was as far as we were going with our relationship, I gave up on asking her out. I didn’t know that she liked me and she was just too shy to say yes. And to my surprise, four months later she asked me, and I jumped at the chance to be with her. Not long after we left college, we were married and on our way to starting our own family. News of Hilana’s pregnancy came to me when I had just received word that the Wizard Council was offering us two positions in the Ves-Guard office.”

  “What is a Ves-guard? I know they are like an elite police force, but what does the name mean?” asked Helen.

  “Ves-guard means Vesbenel Guard, which in the common tongue means Peace-guard. As you know, they’re the ones who enforce the laws of the city. Though they’re also the ones who are called in by the Grand Wizard and the Wizard Council to expel and capture Dark Wizards,” replied Delsani at length. “And if their careers go well. They could be offered a place on the council.”

  The Wizard was silent for a few seconds before speaking again. “We were offered the jobs, and at first I thought Hilana would decline the offer, but I should have known better, for she, like I, had dreamed of being in the Ves-guards since we were young, and we knew that all Ves-guards start their careers in the office department, so we were both happy to except. The nine months dragged by, as you can probably imagine. The Ves-Guard office was, and probably still is. The most boring thing in creation, though in the end we both agreed that it was worth it.

  “The time finally came and Hilana give birth to our son, Rukril, and by the time he was ten, he wanted to be a Ves-guard like us. But that soon changed with Hilana’s death, and then he wanted nothing to do with it or me. For he blamed me for what happened to her.”

  “I know I shouldn’t really ask...” Once again Helen broke off.

  “What happened to her?” said Delsani. “Well, just before Rukril’s eleventh birthday, Hilana had taken a seat on the council and was very happy with her new job. But I knew that she still wanted to be a Ves-guard. The pure thrill of facing some of the most notorious Dark Wizards that this world had to offer, there was nothing like it. Once you’ve been there, it always stays with you. Then, only three days before Rukril’s birthday, the Council sent for all of the Ves-Guards who worked in the field for a very important meeting at city hall. They didn’t say what the meeti
ng was about. And Hilana didn’t know. I just assumed it was another scumbag that needed catching, so we got a close friend to mind our son while we attended the meeting. When we got there, most of the others were already there. When everyone else had arrived, the meeting started, and to my horror I found out that I was wrong. It wasn’t just any Dark Wizard; it was Varack, one of Ulicoth’s favorite and most deadly cronies. The council had Intel that he knew the location of Ulicoth himself, which instantly made the highest of top priorities.”

  Delsani stopped suddenly. He noticed that Helen was staring dreamily out of one of the windows. “I do hope I’m not boring you,” said the Wizard lightly.

  “What? Oh, no not at all. I was listening the whole time. I just got a little lost for a second. I mean, I was thinking about John. And I was wondering was it quick?”

  “Was what quick?”

  “John’s death. I just need to know.”

  “I wish that I could set your mind at ease, but I didn’t witness his death.”

  “I’m sorry, I ruined your story.”

  “That’s all right. Don’t worry. I was going on and on anyway.”

  “No,” said Helen hastily; “I want to hear the rest of the story, if that’s okay.”

  “That’s fine,” said the Wizard happily. “Now, where was I?”

  “You were saying that Varack was the highest of top priorities because the council thought he knew where Ulicoth was hiding. But wait a minute. Wasn’t Ulicoth too powerful for ordinary Wizards and Witches to handle?”

  “No. You must remember that he was severely weakened after his last confrontation with Dragdani. The council had decided that it would be best to send Hilana out again, as she knew more about Varack then the rest of us. We set off that very day for Varack’s mansion,” he said, sounding to Helen sad and very regretful. “I do not wish to describe the way in which she died. But I will say she shouldn’t have died that night. It should have been me,” said the Wizard now wiping his eyes with a handkerchief. “It is one of the worst last moments that you can have with the one you thought you would grow old with.”